About

My contention is that these works of (self)representation shift the discussion of transgenderism as concerning sex and gender primarily or exclusively. My research focuses on the ways in which the presentation of one’s material self may be thought of in terms of experimenting with formal elements of embodiment, which may -- or indeed may not -- be inscribed within gender signification. This approach also enables the juxtaposition of film and transgender studies through the shared concept of the image, perceived and made meaningful within one’s embodied perspective. The selected corpus suggests and clarifies the import of a shimmering quality, which is associated in key theoretical and artistic texts with both cinematic images and the body images of trans subjects. Though I suggest a specified trans subjectivity, shimmering images form and inform a contested field of knowability that bears on subjectivity more broadly.